Luca Lagorio | Architecture Portfolio | 2022

Luca Lagorio Portfolio

Hello everyone!

I’m Luca. I’m 25, Leo and an Italian Architect.

Curiosity, contamination, artistry, passion, ambition:

Luca Lagorio 04 | 08 | 1995 Straße 45 BERLIN 0039 347 1913625

“Ideally architecture is not about fixing activities, fluxes or programs, or worse, about solving spatial problems. On the contrary, it is about opening up possibilities: the potential of a site, the hidden opportunity of a particular situation in time, of a programmatic conflict. It is about dealing with uncertainty, about enabling different and unforeseen scenarios.”

My approach to the architect's professionalism has always been decidedly multidisciplinary, the union of contaminations from different worlds: art, sociology, geography, economy, literature, cinema, innovation, management, communication, craftsmanship, design, photography, history.

During my studies, driven by a perpetual curiosity and desire to learn, I have lived and studied in Munich, London, Turin, Milan, Tokyo, Taipei, Buenos Aires, experimenting with different cultures, approaches and influences.

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education

2020 Licensed Architect | Ordine degli Architetti di Genova

2020 Spring Seminar: The Architectural Imagination | Harvard University Graduate School of Design

2019 Master Degree in Architecture and Construction, 110/110 cum laudae, mention and honors | Politecnico di Milano

2019 Master Degree in Architecture: Restoration, Heritage and Urban Design, 110/110 cum laudae, mention and honors | Politecnico di Torino

2019 Master Thesis:“OFFICEMOTION: a disruptive psychological methodology to design work spaces” | with Herman Miller | Technische Universität Delft

2018/19 E+/EU Erasmus Program | Joint Degree Program | The Imperial University of Tokyo, Kengo Kuma Laboratory

2018/20 Enrollment “Alta Scuola Politecnica” | College of Excellence, Double Degree Program | Architecture + Design | Politecnico di Torino - Politecnico di Milano

2014/17 Bachelor in Architecture Science | Politecnico di Torino

2014 Trilingual (English, German, Italian) Scientific High School Diploma | LSS Gian Domenico Cassini, Genova

professional

2020/- Topotek1 | Berlin | Project Leader, Project Architect

2020 U67 | Aarhus | Exhibition Designer, Junior Architect

2020 Kengo Kuma and Associates | Tokyo/Taichung | Researcher

2019 Milano Design Week “Fuorisalone 2019” | Milan | Manager of the Exposition “Tsumi Kibako” with AIDA ATELIER and Manager of the Lectures “PechaKucha”

2019 Tokyo Biennale 2019 | Tokyo | Manager of the Lectures “PechaKucha”

2018/19 Aida Atelier | Tokyo | Exhibition Designer, Architecture and Visualisation Intern

2013/19 Domino Spazio Creativo | Torino | Design and Architecture Magazine co-foundation

2017/18 Politecnico di Torino | Teaching Assistant “Atelier of Design Composition” with prof NICOLA RUSSI

2016/18 Politecnico di Torino | Teaching Assistant “Restoration: history and techniques” with prof EMANUELE MOREZZI

2016/17 Reinerio Archietti | Torino | Architecture Intern

2012/14 Teatro Stabile di Genova | Genova | Scenography and Direction Intern

2010/17 FAI | Genova | Exhibition Designer Assistant, Touristic Guide

2010/17 Amnesty International | Genova | Regional Group Foundation

workshops

2020 “TTT: Dynamic and Flexible Prototype Construction” | | Taiwan | Summer School | with The Imperial University of Tokyo, ETSAM, TU Berlin, Politecnico di Milano, Politecnico di Torino

2019 “TRANS-USE: Conservation and Preservation of Industrial Heritage” | Tsinghua University | Beijing | Summer School | with Technion: Israel Institute of Technology, Politecnico di Torino

2019 “The Fourth Industrial Revolution: promises and pitfalls in blending new and traditional approaches in manufacturing and service sectors” | Milan | Spring School | with IKEA and GOOGLE Arts and Culture

2019 “Dynamics of Innovation: Honeymoon” | Lausanne | Winter School | with THALES ALENIA SPACE

2018/19 “Reconstruction of the Japanes Villages after Natural Disasters” | The Imperial University of Tokyo, Hiroshima University | Tokyo, Hiroshima

2018 “Design Methods and Processes” | Milan | Winter School | with TESLA, inc.

2017 “Earthquake in central Italy 2016. From knowledge to reconstruction” | Hosei University, School of Planning and Architecture Delhi, Politecnico di Torino | Torino

distinctions

12/2021 Finalist: “Europan16: Living City” | Demetra | Austria

04/2021 First Price: “Yangtze River Delta: Water Village Living Room” | with Topotek1 | Shanghai

11/2020 Winner “CJ Live City” | with MVRDV and Topotek1 | Seoul

2020 Selected as Italian Ambassador for the “Young Talent Architecture Award: Best Architecute Master Thesis” | with Biennale di Venezia and Fundació Mies van der Rohe

Unveiling the Monumentality of Protection

The Japanese Infrastructural Network as an Urban Device

Master Thesis | relator: Nicola Russi (Laboratorio Permanente) correlator: Matteo Poli, Federico Coricelli research contributions: Kengo Kuma, Hidenobu Jinnai

In Japanese culture there is an extremely contradictory dichotomous relationship between man and nature. While this is a matter of venera tion, spectacularization, even mythicization, on the other hand Japane se society has always tried to control, harness and anthropicize the natural element. In this context, the greatest imposition on the landsca pe is the protective infrastructure, designed in order to defend the Japanese territory from the destructive force of nature, tsunamis, typhoons, earthquakes, landslides, floods, volcanoes that continuously threaten its safety. A vast and widespread infrastructure network aimed at protecting cities has created an involuntary contemporary Japanese landscape, a continuous monument.

This same imposing approach on the territory and on urban space has inspired the metabolist brutality, crucial in the development of contem porary Japanese architecture, through which the centrality of infra structure is exacerbated. Art and photography have admired its monu mental scale, its role as the protagonist of a territory increasingly marked by anthropic action, but freezing the landscape and the city in an image, taking a conceptual distance from it.

This thesis aims, instead, to recognize, describe and investigate the architectural value and potential of this infrastructural system as an urban device. The infrastructure is seen as an activating and engaging element of urban dynamics, in continuum with the city's soil, as a support matrix for practices and collective uses, stimulated by the inclusion of micro architectural devices, pet architectures, unvealing a potential heritage. A historical, cultural and architectural analysis can reveal the monumentality of objects born for safety but potential in the world of hedonism, if this same potentiality were recognized to them.

The Production of Territory

The Production of Territory

Nature is the place of recognition of certain dogmas, of a series of values, elements, perceptions, sounds, images, details, they are the container of memories, connotations of a community sense in the broadest sense of the term. Nature is as opposed to "non-places", in which there is the total annulment of identity and spatial and human particularities, as to an ultra-exceptional connotative carat often of archi tectural places. The Japanese landscape, strongly engineered, artificialized, dense with constructions, needs to be contextualized, the result of a connection in the control of the natural element deriving from Japanese culture.

Nature is the place of recognition of certain dogmas, of a series of values, elements, perceptions, sounds, images, details, they are the container of memories, connotations of a community sense in the broadest sense of the term. Nature is as opposed to "non-places", in which there is the total annulment of identity and spatial and human particularities, as to an ultra-exceptional connotative carat often of archi tectural places. The Japanese landscape, strongly engineered, artificialized, dense with constructions, needs to be contextualized, the result of a connection in the control of the natural element deriving from Japanese culture.

Engineering contrasts with architecture in its approach to the landscape, infra structure and the very dynamics of urban planning in cities. The set of these networ ks generates an artificial production of the territory, which affirms the infrastructural system as a protagonist of the Japanese landscape, prevailing both at a dimensio nal and conceptual level on the points it holds together. This implies that the urban fabric is collateral to the presence of the infrastructure network, developing at its edges or at the intersection nodes of the system mesh.

Engineering contrasts with architecture in its approach to the landscape, infra structure and the very dynamics of urban planning in cities. The set of these networ ks generates an artificial production of the territory, which affirms the infrastructural system as a protagonist of the Japanese landscape, prevailing both at a dimensio nal and conceptual level on the points it holds together. This implies that the urban fabric is collateral to the presence of the infrastructure network, developing at its edges or at the intersection nodes of the system mesh.

There is, however, a hybrid between infrastructure, architecture and public space. The massive presence of communication infrastructures within the urban fabric, in fact, has led to the creation of hybrid elements, often for collective use, through plug in structures that coexist and collaborate with the infrastructure network, activating it.

There is, however, a hybrid between infrastructure, architecture and public space. The massive presence of communication infrastructures within the urban fabric, in fact, has led to the creation of hybrid elements, often for collective use, through plug in structures that coexist and collaborate with the infrastructure network, activating it.

The space of the infrastructure is a generator of spontaneous practices in a context of absence of public space.

The space of the infrastructure is a generator of spontaneous practices in a context of absence of public space.

After a vast analysis of different case studies of hybrid forms of cityscape, I’ve chosen three typologies of infrastructures to investigate a possible activating starte gical approach: the retaining wall, the tsunami wall and the reclaiming land. The three of them are different as a matter of space development, location and morpho logy, in order to analyze different applications of architecture and public space upon them.

After a vast analysis of different case studies of hybrid forms of cityscape, I’ve chosen three typologies of infrastructures to investigate a possible activating starte gical approach: the retaining wall, the tsunami wall and the reclaiming land. The three of them are different as a matter of space development, location and morpho logy, in order to analyze different applications of architecture and public space upon them.

#1 Retaining Wall

1 2

retaining wall average composition

1. sidewalk + horizontal concrete platform, in order to create a sepa ration between the road and the wall, 2. inclined wall, on average height around 1,5 - 2 m, 3. inner part of the wall, inclined reinforced concrete surface, retaining the mountain and creating an embank ment, 4. reating wall frames, made by a reinforced concrete grid, with variable section and height, 5. embankment, variable depth, usually the proportion is around half of the lenght of the wall

average scale proportions

8 < a < 14 c = b/2

activating process

reaching the top an outside staircase system hung on the inclined facade allows to reach the top of the wall, through different platforms as belvedere spots

lifted plaza the embankment on the top of the retaining wall is designed as a lifted plaza, in order to activate also the horizontal surface for either private or public uses, as an urban garden, a place for events, restaurants, or simply a belvedere spot

unveiling the infrastructure through the unveiling of the infrastructure potentiality with the urban device, the space is connected with the urban area and the public surfaces of the city

infrastructure as an urban device

A _ staircase

B _ stairs and elevated garden on top

C _ stairs and elevated plaza with attractions on top

1. compacted fill material, 2. draining bituminous conglomerate, 20 cm, 3. open bituminous conglomerate, for binder and basis, 5 cm, 4. close bituminous conglomerate, 5 cm, 5. sidewalk, 6. retaining wall, reinforced concre te, 0,5 - 1 m x 8,5 m, 7. perforated drainage pipe, 8. small drainage material, 9. wide drainage material, 10. drainage channel, 11. protective surface, 12. retaining wall grid, 13. steel stairs, 14. highway, 15. local road, 16. sea, 17. village, 18. embankment.

stairs at steel stringer 15 cm steel steps 18 cm steel bolting plate

U-shaped beam UPE 15x10x3 cm steel bolting system + anchor plate steel handrail D 2,7 cm

L-shaped angles 12x7x2 cm

retaining wall, reinforced concrete, 0,5 - 1 m x 8,5 m protective surface

perforated drainage pipe embankment concrete compacted ll material grilled landings

small drainage material

tsunami wall average composition

1. sidewalk and / or road, in order to create a separation between the urban fabric and the wall, 2. urban fabric, 3. tsunami wall, on one side straight and on the other inclined reinforced concrete surface, 4. reclaiming land, variable depth, usually the proportion is around three times the lenght of the wall, 5. sea.

average scale proportions 8 < b < 15 c = 2b/5

activating process

reaching the top an outside staircase system hung on the facade allows to reach the top of the wall, through different platforms as belvedere spots

lifted pavilion the surface on the top of the tsunami wall is occupied by an urban device, surrounded by a terrace, in order to activate also the horizontal surface for either private or public uses

unveiling the infrastructure through the unveiling of the infrastructure potentiality with the urban device, the space is connected with the urban area and the public surfaces of the city

A _ staircase

B _ stairs and pavilion

C _ stairs and pavilion with anelevated terrace on top

technological detail bar / bookshop

laminated wood sheeting 2,7 cm laminated glued timber 11,5 cm

laminated wood sheeting 2,7 cm impregnated and glued to laminated glued timber 8,8 cm

B

section A - A’

wood shelf 26 cm

B’

laminated wood sheeting 2,7 cm

bar counter 280 x 30 x 100 cm varnished insulation 9,5 cm between softwood bearers 5,9/9,8 cm and laminated glued timber 8,8 cm

double glazing: oat glass 0,6 cm + cavity 1 cm + laminated safety glass 0,8 mm silicone joint

laminated wood sheeting 2,7 cm

opening in laminated glued timber for I - beam lled in-situ with 1,2 cm laminated board with isolation, painted;joints sealed with mastic

galvanized steel I - beam 30 cm deep felt bedding 1 cm

A

plan B B’

double glazing: oat glass 0,6 cm + cavity 1 cm + laminated safety glass 0,8 mm steel handrail D 2,7 cm

at steel stringer 15 cm laminated wood sheeting 2,7 cm impregnated and glued to laminated glued timber 8,8 cm steel steps 18 cm

bar counter 280 x 30 x 100 cm

steel stool h:80 cm

bar counter 180 x 60 x 100 cm reinforced concrete tsunami wall terrace

Demetra

Educating Inclusivity A City within the City

Europan16 | Living City project awarded as Shortlisted Finalist

Klagenfurt | Austria | 2021

During a historical moment that has experienced dramatical environ mental transformations and lack of economical certainty and stability, our priorities are changing. Climate and biodiversity conditions of cities are in danger but yet the most important values to offer to citizens. The traditional highly consuming city has to be left for a “living city”, “smart city”, a new disruptive model of urbanity, able to target those contem porary needs.

Klagenfurt, thanks to its scale and location, has the potential to be an example for this goal. The location of the E16 Competition Site, being in front of the main railway station and on the limit of the historical city centre, is definitely crucial and strategical. As the new potential urban door of Klagenfurt, the project site program will propose a diverse organisation of function able to create a 24/7 base use of the all area, to attract citizens appertaining to various age ranges and to trigger the attention of locals but also of people from the surrounding areas.

The functions will be heterogeneous, with a specific focus on housing, co-living and social housing, combined with offices, services and com mercial activities, educational/research centres and public buildings, such as a museum, a market, art ateliers and galleries, a cinema, sport fields and leisure facilities, that will create a new community hub.

Phytodepuration pools provide a natural resource and solution for the remediation of grey waters

The presence of public greenhouses within the site allows to intensify both the productive drive and also the circular economy approach of the project

Slow mobility enhancement: pedestrian paths and bike lanes are the only means of transportation inside the site, linked to the contextual network

Contemporary transposition of die Klagenfurt Höfe, refering to the prominent historical typology, creating a bridge between old and new

The Klagenfurt historical center lots grids is translated into the grid of the secondary connections in the project site

The habitat of pollinating insects such as bees or bumblebees is secured by the right choice of planting. These in return contribute to productivity by pollinating the surrounding green areas and greenhouses.

Inspired by the japanese activity of forest-bathing, a regional biodiversity is developed that, depending on the flowering phase, ensures an annual presence of nature and thus contributes to mental and physical health.

0 scale 1:1000 20m

Det Danske Institut i Rom

Art Direction and Webdesign The Danish Institut in Rome

U67 | Aarhus Rome | Italy | 2021

The point of departure of the new website graphic identity lays in an interpretation of the exceptional building that hosts the Accademia since the 1967. Differently to other national Academies in Rome, but similarly to the others in the Villa Giulia compound, Det Danske Institut was built exactly of hosting a Danish cultural representation on Italian ground and to build a bridge between the two countries. This means that living, studying and being hosted in this building has been a precious occasion that, for the last 50 years, has enriched, motivated, and inspired a large variety of scholars and professionals from very diverse discipline, whose traces are still visible in the many piece of arts that populate its walls, corridors and courtyards as floating elements in contrast with the very homogeneous yellow background in which hey are immersed. Building on that, the daily spacial experience of this architectural work can be read following the thread of its main building material: bricks. The bricks compose a surrounding and continuous texture of horizontal lines, offering a warping in each space, both indoor and outdoor, and a distinct identity value to an institutional building of cultural diplomacy.

But how to communicate these four ingredients: the horizontal texture, the strong identity, the diverse nature of cultural production conceived here, and the institutional identity?

GO CHECK IT OUT!!

https://www.acdan.it

CJ Live City

A New Rhythm of Landscapes

Invitation Competition with MVRDV and TOPOTEK1 Seoul | South Korea | 2020

The project for a new neighbourhood expansion in the city of Seoul, is based on the concept of flexibility of the urban space. The proposed composition scheme, in fact, taking as a base the rigid and schematic contextual urban fabric grid, reverses the formal and structural roles of figure and soil and those between buildings and open spaces. A hete rogeneous alternation of voids is the result of a careful repertory of conditions, habitats, fragments, programs, existing infrastructural corri dors and new uses. The propose pattern aims to redefine new relation ship between man and urban landscape. Nature, with its rhythms and necessities, becomes an infrastructural matrix capable of gathering different spaces and programs together, becoming the scenario of contemporary living practices. All the activities that need sharing, exchange, take place outdoor.

The new compositive scheme that occupies the natural portions betwe en the dense urban settlements is formed by a grammar of plant dowels of different aesthetics and densities: threshold-spaces, expan ses of holm oaks, orchards, grass lawns, rocks gardens. This organisa tion generates and evolution from gardens to playground, from forests to plazas.

The identification of a pattern, that is a system of spatially defined rules, allows to analyze with critical consciousness all the elements that converge in the elaboration of design strategy.

This design process generates an isotropic landscape. The isotropy of the territories, as theorised by Secchi and Viganò, is deeply linked to the condition of transcalarity oaf places. The compositional pattern read on different levels, acquires various formal characteristics, partial ly abandoning its regularity and resonates with the existing elements of the places.

TTT

Reticular Structures Prototype Construction

Research Summer School with Kengo Kuma and Associates and The Imperial University of Tokyo, ETSAM, TU Berlin, Politecnico di Milano, Politecnico di Torino

Taichung | Taiwan | 2019

This Research Summer School was focused on the study, analysis and realisation of dynamic and flexible reticular structures prototypes as a correlation between private and public space. The prototype was to be placed in a space in order to change the perception of the space itself by people and to create unforeseeable scenarios. The chosen location was the Fengjia Night Market in the city of Taichung, the biggest in the all Taiwan, in order to analyse as well how the structure could have been supportive for the functions of the commercial and restorative activities.

The small pavilion has the aim to be easily constructed, to be able to evolve through out time and to absolve different and various functions in the same time.

The development of different reticulate structures, prototypes and maquette, has allowed me to define and design the "pet architectures" for my master thesis, the first project of this same portfolio. Physically and empirically working on the construction of small pavilions is really crucial, I think, in the understanding of the spacial qualities these small pieces of architecture have to obtain and guarantee.